Seeing that the Phillies haven't scored in 21 straight innings and that Houston starter Dallas Keuchel has an ERA under 3.00 on the season, the linesmaker has opened this total at less than 8.

Researching this further, though, I've reached the conclusion this total is way too low.

The Phillies were idle on Monday. They had just finished three games at Washington facing three outstanding right-handed pitchers - Doug Fister, Jordan Zimmerman and Stephen Strasburg.

Now they come home to a much better hitting park with the weather forecast calling for a slight wind to blow out and draw southpaw Keuchel and a Houston bullpen that ranks among the worst in baseball.

Keuchel has pitched well - at home. However, he's 1-3 with a 6.07 ERA during his past five road starts. The over has cashed 68 percent of the time during his last 28 away outings.

The Phillies have faced three lefties during the past 11 days - Gio Gonzalez, Vidal Nuno and Wade Miley. They have scored a combined 23 runs in those games, an average of 7.6 runs per game.

The Astros have a good combination of power and speed ranking fourth in homers and fourth in steals. They draw Kyle Kendrick, a bottom-end rotation starter with close to a 5.00 ERA. Kendrick's ERA in his last five starts is 8.04. The over has cashed 72 percent of the time in Kendrick's past 27 home starts.

Kendrick also has a 5.87 lifetime ERA versus Houston in four starts.